Quazatron

The underground citadel of Quazatron is run by an evil cult of mutant
droids, hell-bent on destroying the human race. Sob, whimper. But... do not
despair, help is at hand in the form of KLP2, a psychotic Meknotech
droid.

Klepto, as he is known, is a droid with A Past. In
his youth he was exposed to a rare form of radiation which induced a type of
droid madness. His persistent habit of dismantling everything mechanical in
sight has landed him in serious trouble — he was expelled from droid school for
demolishing his teacher. Despite painstaking re-programming, he remains a
liability, but now he has a chance to prove his worth by eliminating the alien
droids from the planet Quartech.

The droids patrolling the levels of Quazatron are pretty tough cookies,
graded in security classes from one (very tough) to nine. They have some deadly
weapons systems, and are virtually invincible — all previous attacks on the
citadel failed. Now a new grappling system has been developed for
droid-to-droid combat, and on account of his anti-social disposition Klepto has
been chosen to test the prototype in a combat situation. He is expendable, after
all!

At the start of the game Klepto is transported to the underground citadel of
Quazatron. He must trundle about locating the enemy droids, dismantling them,
pushing them off their programmed courses or blasting them to smithereens with
his laser. Quazatron can be approached in two ways: on one level it is a shoot
em up — destroy all the enemy droids and you win; but a wealth of strategical
gameplay lurks below the surface. Whenever Klepto uses the prototype grappling
system successfully, and overcomes an alien droid, his penchant for taking
things to bits allows him to scavenge droid parts and upgrade himself.

Klepto toddles up and down ramps looking for droids to scrap with.
Ramming into a patrolling droid allows Klepto to use the grappling system,
which breaks into the enemy droid’s circuits: the fight is on. The grapple
system in the game has been adapted from Hewson’s Commodore game, Paradroid, and the aim is to win control of as many of the
central bars on the grapple screen as you can.

Using pulsers which are fired into the circuits, you must turn at least
seven of the twelve central bars on the screen to your colour to win — the more
bars you control at the end of the time limit, the more resounding the victory
and the less damage done to the alien droid’s systems. If the grapple is won,
Klepto can help himself to his victim’s undamaged components — including the
drive unit, weapon system, power unit, chassis and any other special devices
that may be present. He’s a regular robotic carrion collector is
Klepto.

The lowest class of alien droid, Class 9, is relatively easy to
outgrapple, but the goodies that can be scavenged from its hulk are not as
attractive as those found on higher class droids. Care should be taken when
choosing which parts to take from a vanquished opponent — it’s all very well
pinching a super dooper weapon system for instance, but if Klepto has a wimpy
power unit then it’ll rapidly be drained by the demands made on it by the new
equipment.

Computer consoles scattered around the cityscape can be used to pick up
information that comes in very handy when taking a strategic approach to the
game. Trundling up to a terminal and pressing fire logs Klepto on to the system
and calls up an icon menu from which a map of the current level of the city, a
plan of the entire city and the droid data library can be called up. The data
library displays Klepto’s current status, and lists the weapon, drive, power
unit, chassis and devices currently installed. Details of the equipment to be
found on enemy droids in the same or lower security classes as Klepto may be
called up — vital for planning a rational upgrade path.

Travel between city levels is effected by moving Klepto onto a lift
square set in the rampway and pressing fire — a plan view of the city comes
onto the screen and Klepto can whizz up or down the lift shaft he is in. All
this grappling and zooming round drains Klepto’s energy — and if his power unit
is low-grade compared to the weapon systems or chassis that has been gained by
grappling, then the power drain is all the more rapid. Klepto’s power unit can
be recharged by moving onto power squares found on some levels, but points are
lost for each recharge. As a power unit runs down, the amount of charge it can
hold reduces. Eventually a new unit will have to be grappled from an alien if
Klepto is to survive.

The city’s rampways are displayed in a scrolling window on the screen
in 3D perspective. Klepto moves around the diagonals of the playing area, and
can only fire his weapon system while he’s on the move and in weapon mode as
opposed to grapple mode. Klepto’s energy status is revealed by the speed at
which his head rotates — when he’s fully charged it whizzes round and a smile
covers his countenance. As his power reserves dwindle, Klepto begins to look
glum. Only one life is supplied in the game, so the aim is to keep Klepto
smiling. Get grappling!

Producer: HewsonsPrice: £8.95Author: Steve Turner

Klepto gets close to R7 droid on a yellow city level

The plan view of the city levels that pops onto the display when Klepto uses a lift

CRITICISM

“Quazatron owes a debt to the Commodore hit, Paradroid; though the graphics are very different, the
lift sequence and grapple screen are almost identical. It’s generally a great
game, that’s really fun to play and is instantly appealing. The only real
complaint that I’ve got is that the scrolling routine when you move about could
be a lot smoother, but as this doesn’t interfere with gameplay, it’s still one
of the best games I’ve played on the Spectrum. If you have seen the Commodore
game and liked it, I’d recommend you get Quazatron right now!”

“Quazatron is a true masterpiece. Nothing about it is of a bad
standard — sound, graphics, playability and addictiveness, they’re all there.
Basically, this is the C64 game Paradroid jazzed up
a bit with pretty graphics and redesigned for the Spectrum. It is very easy to
get into if you’ve played the Commodore game, but I suggest you study the
instructions for a while if you haven’t, as they are complex and could be
confusing. The graphics are about the best I’ve ever seen on this type of game:
the characters are excellently drawn and full of detail, as is the city in its
many levels. Graphically, my only nag is that the scrolling is too slow. The
sound is excellent, with a brilliant tune on the title screen, and the effects
during the game are second to none. I can’t really see myself putting this one
down for a good while yet as it is fun to play and very compelling. I strongly
recommend Quazatron to everyone.”

“Steve Turner has done a wonderful job of producing a Paradroid type game — I reckon this is one of the best
games ever to come out on the Spectrum. Playability is superb: the game’ll keep
you at the computer for ages wondering how you’re going to kill the next droid
that comes along. The levels are very detailed and contain lots of baddies to
short circuit. The grapple mode is very good and needs lots of patience and
skill to play. The character you control is very well animated and there are
lots of nice touches to the game. The sound at the start is a very good two
channel simulation. Addictive qualities are enhanced by the fact that it is
quite easy to finish one level, but a different matter altogether to go around
and clear the whole city. This is definitely one game that will keep you at
your Spectrum for months.”